Backstage Notes From Vince McMahon’s Pre-RAW Meeting, Karl Anderson Called Out For Tweets, More

Vince McMahon called a backstage meeting at around 3pm ET on Monday before RAW to address the travel debacle coming out of WWE Crown Jewel.

Vince reiterated that there were no issues between the company and officials in Saudi Arabia, and that a mechanical issue prevented the plane from leaving when it was scheduled to, nothing else.

Vince opened the meeting up for questions from talents and nobody asked any questions, and nobody said anything about the story given to them on what happened in the Kingdom. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that there was a feeling that saying anything negative about the story given to them during the meeting wouldn’t do anyone good, and nobody spoke up. The Observer adds that the feeling on saying anything negative about the company’s Saudi story wouldn’t do anyone any good, was apparently the correct call.

Randy Orton said something during the meeting but he was just trying to break the tension by being funny. Vince responded and asked, “Anybody else want to just kiss my ass?”

The meeting was just about to wrap up when Triple H called out Karl Anderson for comments he made on Twitter, about who would be the locker room leader on Monday. As noted, Anderson tweeted, “Looking forward to seeing who the locker room leader is on Monday.. [popcorn emoji] [red heart emoji]”

Anderson reportedly didn’t say much of anything in response. There was apparently more heat to the Anderson situation as he and his wife also joked on Twitter about not going back to Saudi Arabia, but going back because they need a new pool or a second house. He tweeted, “Couldn’t pay me enough to go back .. Well that’s not true, I need a second pool, so…..”

Anderson’s wife responded, “2nd house!! Not a pool..but don’t ever go back AGAIN! We don’t need our daddy/papi/motherlover/absanderson/besttagteam etc. being held hostage while we’re at home worried to death [red heart emoji]”

You can see the Anderson tweets below.

WWE United States Champion AJ Styles spoke at the meeting but didn’t say much. Styles was very unhappy because the delay in the Kingdom caused him to miss one of his son’s wrestling matches. Rusev spoke some and mostly thanked Mark Carrano, WWE’s Senior Director of Talent Relations, for his work in quickly getting hotel rooms booked for everyone while they waited for a flight back to the United States. No one spoke about anything negatively, but there were some remarks about how at times during the debacle, the talents didn’t have access to Wi-Fi and were unable to contact their families.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 11/4/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York with fallout from WWE Crown Jewel.

No matches have been announced for tonight’s RAW but WWE Champion Brock Lesnar is set to appear after he quit Friday Night SmackDown and said he was headed to RAW to come after Rey Mysterio.

WWE has not posted their official preview for tonight’s show as of this writing, but it’s worth noting that their events page has new WWE Universal Champion “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, and WWE United States Champion AJ Styles advertised to appear.

The arena has Rollins vs. Wyatt in a Steel Cage match advertised locally, which would be the dark main event as The Fiend is a SmackDown Superstar, plus appearances by Lynch, Styles, Flair, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Ricochet, Aleister Black, and The Street Profits.

It’s rumored that WWE NXT Superstars will appear on tonight’s RAW to continue the Survivor Series build that began on Friday’s SmackDown with the NXT invasion angles.

Seth Rollins took to Twitter today to issue his first wrestling-related comments since losing the WWE Universal Title to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at last Thursday’s WWE Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.

Rollins thanked Dubai Tourism for the trip he took with RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, and mentioned Ringside Collectibles for the Ringside Fest event on Sunday. He also revealed that he will address his WWE future during tonight’s RAW episode from Long Island.

He wrote, “So much swirling in my head after #CrownJewel. Thank you @dubaitourism & @RingsideC #RingsideFest & all of our incredible fans for the weekend. Will address my future tonight on #Raw.”

https://twitter.com/WWERollins/status/1191377720829267968

 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 10/28/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri with the final hype for WWE Crown Jewel.

  • Seth Rollins and Erick Rowan set to battle in Falls Count Anywhere Match
  • Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair to appear days before WWE Crown Jewel
  • Becky Lynch to face Kairi Sane on Raw in matchup of champions
  • Rusev and Lana will take their quarrel to “The King’s Court”
  • Ricochet looks to tip the scales for Team Hogan in rematch with Team Flair’s Drew McIntyre

Humberto Carrillo Says He’s Feeling Blessed After Raw Debut

Humberto Carrillo made a big splash last night during his WWE RAW debut and afterward the wrestler said he’s feeling blessed.

In case you missed it, Carrillo was first interviewed backstage by Charly Caruso during the show and briefly mentioned Seth Rollins. This led to the Universal Champion challenging him to a match.

While Humberto eventually lost to Rollins, the match impressed fans and earned him the respect of Seth who shook the young wrestler’s hand afterward.

Carrillo reacted to all of this after the show while talking with Sarah Schreiber.

“I think I’m really blessed,” he explained. “I don’t mind if I lose the match. As you said, I win the respect of the champ and from all the crowd. And I’m representing Raw right now, from NXT to 205, and now on Raw … that’s great. That’s great. I’m really blessed and thankful with everybody.”

Watch the interview below.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE RAW Preview 10/21/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio as the road to Crown Jewel continues.

  • Seth Rollins to discuss burning down The Firefly Fun House
  • Flair to name final member of Team Flair for WWE Crown Jewel
  • The Street Profits challenge The O.C. with a mystery friend in their corner
  • Sin Cara returns to Raw against Andrade
  • Rey Mysterio to appear live on Raw

WWE Announces Authors Of Pain Have Been Officially Signed To RAW

WWE announced that the Authors of Pain have been signed to RAW. WWE announced it with a video explaining the two powerhouse wrestlers have been signed to RAW after “extended negotiations with both USA Network and FOX amid rumors of their return to the MMA world.”

WWE Talents To Receive Time Off During Christmas Week

WWE is set to tape the pre-Christmas edition of RAW on Tuesday, December 17 in Sioux City, Iowa. The taped show will air on Monday, December 23, according to @Wrestlevotes.

All WWE talents are scheduled to have some time off between Sunday, December 22 and Thursday, December 26. The SmackDown episode on Friday, December 27 will air live.

There will also be no live WWE NXT episode on Wednesday, December 25 for Christmas. There’s no word yet on what they have planned for NXT that night.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 10/14/19 – WWE Draft

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado with the second and final night of the 2019 WWE Draft.

* Lynch and Banks to renew hostilities and determine first pick on Night 2 of WWE Draft

* The Viking Raiders to challenge Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode for the Raw Tag Team Titles

The following Superstars are in the Draft Pool for tonight’s RAW: Universal Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair, Titus O’Neil, Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura (with Sami Zayn), Aleister Black, The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods), Daniel Bryan, SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, The Miz, Ali, King Corbin, Elias, RAW Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler & Bobby Roode, Samoa Joe, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane), Rusev, Cedric Alexander, Rey Mysterio, 24/7 Champion R-Truth, Carmella, AOP (Akam & Rezar), Heavy Machinery (Tucker & Otis), Apollo Crews, Andrade, Liv Morgan, Jinder Mahal, Buddy Murphy, Mojo Rawley, No Way Jose, Dana Brooke, Shelton Benjamin, Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder, The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce), Sarah Logan, Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville), and Drake Maverick.

WWE Announces Draft Pools For RAW And SmackDown

WWE has announced the preliminary Draft Pool for the 2019 WWE Draft that kicks off on Friday’s SmackDown from Las Vegas, then wraps on Monday’s RAW in Denver.

WWE earlier announced the rules for the 2019 Draft, including why RAW will receive more picks than SmackDown. They also announced which celebrities will be involved with announcing the picks. You can read that announcement by clicking here.

Regarding the WWE Draft Pools, several top Superstars will be eligible for selection on Friday night and Monday night. Stars like RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, The OC, Sasha Banks, The Street Profits, and others will be eligible on Friday. Stars like WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, The New Day, Daniel Bryan, AOP, Aleister Black, and others will be eligible on Monday night.

Preliminary WWE Draft Pools announcedSmackDown and Raw are officially on the clock.

The preliminary WWE Draft Pools have been determined and designate which WWE Superstars are available for selection on each night.

Below is the full list of draft-eligible Superstars organized by assigned night:

Friday Night SmackDown – Oct. 11
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch
Roman Reigns
The O.C. (United States Champion AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson)
“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
Drew McIntyre
Randy Orton
Sasha Banks
Ricochet
Braun Strowman
Bobby Lashley
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
Lacey Evans
The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar)
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)
Natalya
The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins)
Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado)
Cesaro
Kevin Owens
Humberto Carrillo
Akira Tozawa
Sin Cara
Eric Young
EC3
Chad Gable
Heath Slater
Drew Gulak
The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel)
Tamina

Raw – Oct. 14
Universal Champion Seth Rollins
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair
Titus O’Neil
Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura (with Sami Zayn)
Aleister Black
The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods)
Daniel Bryan
Bayley
Luke Harper
Erick Rowan
The Miz
Ali
King Corbin
Elias
Raw Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler & Bobby Roode
Samoa Joe
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane)
Rusev
Cedric Alexander
Rey Mysterio
R-Truth
Carmella
AOP (Akam & Rezar)
Heavy Machinery (Tucker & Otis)
Apollo Crews
Andrade
Liv Morgan
Jinder Mahal
Buddy Murphy
Mojo Rawley
No Way José
Dana Brooke
Shelton Benjamin
Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder
The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce)
Sarah Logan
Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville)
Drake Maverick

The WWE Draft begins with the Friday, Oct. 11 episode of SmackDown on FOX at 8/7 C. Catch the final picks on the Monday, Oct. 14 episode of Raw on USA Network at 8/7C.

WWE Clarifies Rules Regarding Draft

WWE has clarified the rules for its upcoming draft beginning tonight on Friday Night SmackDown.

The WWE draft rules are as follows:

  • More than seventy Superstars, including Tag Teams, have been placed into this year’s Draft pool
  • Thirty Superstars will be eligible to be drafted tomorrow night, while fourty-one Superstars will be eligible on Monday Night
  • For every two SmackDown picks, Raw will get three (since Friday Night SmackDown is a two-hour show and Monday Night Raw is a three-hour show)
  • Tag Teams will count as one pick unless FOX or USA Network specifically wants to pick one Superstar from the team
  • Any undrafted Superstars will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing

WWE also confirmed FOX and NBCUniversal personalities who will Draft make appearances.

This includes FOX personalities like Alex Rodriguez, Troy Aikman, Jim Cramer, Joe Buck, Frank Thomas, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart , Charissa Thompson, Michael Vick, and more. Repping NBCUniversal will be Michael Che and Colin Jost, Christian Slater, Dulé Hill and James Roday from Psych, Marcus Lemonis from The Profit, Margaret Josephs and Melissa Gorga  from Real Housewives of New Jersey and more.

The press release also explains that “For the first time, executives from FOX and USA Network have direct influence over the WWE Draft as it will determine the Superstars competing for either Raw or SmackDown.”

The WWE Draft begins tonight at 8pm ET on Friday Night SmackDown, then continues Monday on RAW.